sonycorporationfandomcom-20200216-history
BioShock (series)
BioShock is a video game series developed by Irrational Games —the first under the name 2K Boston/2K Australia—and designed by Ken Levine. The series is considered a spiritual successor to the System Shock series, on which many of Irrational's team including Levine had worked previously. As with System Shock, the BioShock games combine first-person shooter (FPS) and computer role-playing games (RPG) elements, giving the player freedom for how to approach combat and other situations, and considered part of the immersive sim genre. Additionally, the series is notable for exploring philosophical and moral concepts with a strong in-game narrative influenced by concepts such as objectivism and American exceptionalism. The series consists of three main games. BioShock and BioShock 2 were released in 2007 and 2010, respectively, and take place around 1960 in the fictional underwater city of Rapture. BioShock Infinite, released in 2013, is thematically and narratively tied to the first games, but takes place around 1910 aboard the floating city of Columbia. With the release of BioShock Infinite selling over 11 million copies , the three games combined have more than 25 million copies sold, making it one of the best selling video game franchises of all time. A mobile version of the first game was developed by IG Fun and released in 2009. A motion picture based on the first, mostly relying on computer-generated imagery, had been planned but was canned following the poor performance of the theatrical version of Watchmen. Work on Infinite led Levine to drastically downsize and rebrand Irrational Games into Ghost Story Games to work on smaller titles, while 2K Games remained interested in the property. An article on Kotaku states a fourth game to the BioShock series is in reported development, under the working name Parkside by 2k Games top secret studio. Concept and development In response to a question from the gaming website IGN about what influenced the game's story and setting, Levine said, "I have my useless liberal arts degree, so I've read stuff from Ayn Rand, George Orwell and all the sort of utopian and dystopian writings of the 20th century, and having developed the ''System Shock ''franchise, some of my first games, I felt that the atmosphere was a good one to set for a dystopian environment, one we borrowed heavily from ''System Shock." Levine has also mentioned an interest in "stem cell research and the moral issues that go around it." In regard to artistic influences, Levine cited the books Nineteen Eighty-Four and Logan's Run, representing societies that have "really interesting ideas screwed up by the fact that we're people." According to the developers, BioShock is a spiritual successor to the System Shock games, and was produced by former developers of that series. Levine claims his team had been thinking about making another game in the same vein since they produced System Shock 2. In his narration of a video initially screened for the press at E3 2006, Levine pointed out many similarities between the games. There are several comparable gameplay elements: plasmids in BioShock supplied by "EVE hypos" serve the same function as "Psionic Abilities" supplied by "PSI hypos" in System Shock 2; the player needs to deal with security cameras, machine gun turrets, and hostile robotic drones, and has the ability to hack them in both games; ammunition conservation is stressed as "a key gameplay feature"; and audio tape recordings fulfil the same storytelling role that e-mail logs did in the System Shock games. The "ghosts" (phantom images that replay tragic incidents in the places they occurred) from System Shock 2 also exist in BioShock, as do modifiable weapons with multiple ammunition types and researching enemies for increased damage. Additionally, Atlas guides the player along by radio, in much the same way Janice Polito does in System Shock 2, with each having a similar twist mid-game. Both games also give the player more than one method of completing tasks, allowing for emergent gameplay. In the reveal of the third game of the series, BioShock Infinite, Ken Levine stated that the name "BioShock" is not in reference to any specific setting or location, but instead a means of encapsulating common gameplay elements that reflects on their earlier games such as System Shock 2, and the BioShock series. }} In a conversation over Twitter in 2017 a former artist who worked on 'Infinite' compared the game series to the Far Cry series, saying that "I think what makes a Bioshock game, or at least a good Bioshock game, is that sense of magical realism. I think it's a lot like what Dan Hay said about what he thinks a good Far Cry game is, you know, this sense that this stuff could happen in real life, like someone sits down next to you at a bar or wherever and starts telling you this story that's so fantastic that you're super skeptical, but everything in the story is 100% plausible and you come away feeling like that story was totally legit; with Bioshock, we have the fantastical stories, and the larger than life characters, and if someone were to sit down with you and say something like, "So this one time I was on a plane that crashed into the ocean and I ended up in this creepy fallen city and fought a bunch of druggies", that's totally plausible. What we do is, then, we add magical realism to it, so the fallen city becomes an underwater dystopia, and the druggies become these psychic mutants and people driven insane by using drugs that make them superhumans." Gameplay The games in the BioShock series are first-person shooters. The series is considered the spiritual successor to System Shock 2, which many of the developers were previously involved with through Irrational Games. While specific mechanics differ between all three games, they share a common theme of having the player use a combination of physical weapons such as guns and melee weapons, superhuman powers—including both active and passive abilities—granted by genetic alterations (plasmids in the first two games, vigors in Infinite), and features of the game environment to strategically work their way through enemy forces and tactical situations. These weapons and powers can be used in various combinations to aid in defeating foes; for example, electrocuting an enemy makes them prone to being knocked out from a subsequent melee attack. Scenarios in the game often feature multiple approaches that the player can take, such as opting to avoid enemies through stealth and deception, hacking a security turret to turn against enemy forces, or directly engaging in combat. The player is able to customize their weapons and genetic enhancements for the style of play they prefer. In addition to collecting new weapons and genetic modifications, the player gains ammunition, mana-like power required to engage the genetic modifications (EVE in the first two games, Salt in Infinite), restorative items, scrap items used to craft new materials, and in-game money to buy various improvements at vending machines throughout the game. Games ''BioShock'' BioShock takes place in 1960, in the fictional underwater city of Rapture. Built in the late 1940s by business tycoon Andrew Ryan, it was meant to be a laissez-faire utopia for humanity's elite to work, live, and prosper out of the increasingly oppressive hands of the world's governments and authorities. The scientists of Rapture soon discovered a substance called ADAM found in a species of sea slug on the ocean's floor. With ADAM, they could create plasmids that would modify a person's genetic material, granting them superhuman-like abilities, and soon became a valuable commodity. They devised a means of harvesting ADAM using little girls, named "Little Sisters", implanting the sea slugs in their stomachs. Extended use of ADAM was found to lead to mental instability in its users, and along with other political and social movements within Rapture, the Little Sisters became targets of those desiring more ADAM. To protect them, the scientists created Big Daddies, mentally conditioned and mutated humans in armored diving suits that drove off any attackers from Little Sisters. On the eve of 1959, war broke out in Rapture between its classes, fueled by ADAM-addicted "Splicers". The war left Rapture a dystopia within a year, with the few non-ADAM users sheltering themselves from Splicers. The player controls Jack, a man that stumbles upon Rapture after his plane crashes near the Rapture bathysphere terminus. Jack is quickly guided by a man named Atlas via radio to help protect himself from the Splicers and to save his family from the ruthless hands of Andrew Ryan. BioShock was released on August 21, 2007 for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360. A PlayStation 3 port was released just over a year later on October 17, 2008. The game received overwhelmingly positive reviews, which praised its "morality-based" storyline, immersive environment and Ayn Rand-inspired dystopian back-story. According to Take-Two's chairman Strauss Zelnick, the game has sold around 3 million copies . ''BioShock 2'' Set in the fictional underwater dystopian city of Rapture, the game's story takes place eight years after BioShock. Assuming control of Subject Delta, a hulking Big Daddy, players are tasked with fighting through "splicers", the psychotic human population of the city, using weapons and an array of genetic modifications. The game also introduces a story-driven multiplayer mode called Fall of Rapture, which takes place during Rapture's 1959 civil war, before the events of the first game. BioShock 2 opens on New Year's Eve, 1958 (two years before the events of the first game), as Subject Delta patrols Rapture with his Little Sister, Eleanor. Eleanor is separated from Delta by her mother, Sofia Lamb, who uses a mind control plasmid on Delta to make him shoot himself. Ten years later, Delta awakens, revived by Little Sisters under the control of Eleanor. Delta is drawn towards Eleanor by their past Big Daddy-Little Sister connection. BioShock 2 was mainly developed by 2K Marin, with 2K Australia, Arkane Studios, and Digital Extremes providing additional support. 2K Boston, formerly Irrational Games, also assisted the game's development, with series creator Ken Levine providing input. The story received major changes over the course of development. Garry Schyman, the composer of the first game, returned to create the score for BioShock 2. BioShock 2 was released worldwide on February 9, 2010. The game was developed by a new design team, although it contained members of the team for the original BioShock. Minerva's Den is a DLC campaign for BioShock 2, in which the player assumes the role of Subject Sigma, another Alpha Series Big Daddy, as he travels through Minerva's Den, home to Rapture's Central Computing. It was released on August 31, 2010. ''BioShock Infinite'' BioShock Infinite takes place in 1912 in Columbia, a city suspended in the air through a combination of "quantum levitation" and giant blimps and balloons. It was built and launched in 1893 by the American government, during the Worlds' Fair in Chicago, to much fanfare and publicity. However, it was later involved in an "international incident" by firing upon a group of Chinese civilians during the Boxer Rebellion. The city was disavowed by the United States government, and the location of the city was soon lost to everyone else. The game is set in the year 1912 and follows its protagonist, former Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt, who is sent to the airborne city of Columbia to find a young woman, Elizabeth, who has been held captive there for most of her life. During this conflict, Booker learns that Elizabeth possesses strange powers to manipulate "Tears" in the space-time continuum that ravage Columbia, and soon discovers her to be central to the city's dark secrets. The player controls Booker Dewitt throughout the game, eventually working with the AI-controlled Elizabeth. Like previous BioShock games, the player uses a combination of weapons, clothing called Gear that offer unique attributes, and psychokinetic powers granted through Vigors. Elizabeth's powers can also be used to help fight hostile forces. In contrast to the limited spaces of the underwater city of Rapture, the openness of Columbia provides for more dynamic combat, including combat that takes place aboard the city's Sky-Line rollercoaster-like rail system. As a result of the city's isolation, a civil war eventually broke out on Columbia between different factions of citizens. At the time of the game's events, only two main factions remain. One group is the Founders, the remnants of those retaining power over the city led by Zachary Hale Comstock, which seeks to keep Columbia purely for American citizens while denying foreigners the same privileges. The other is a group named Vox Populi, a rag-tag resistance group, led by Daisy Fitzroy, formed from several factions with similar ideologies that fought to seize control and restore the rights of Columbia citizenship to all. However, years of war and struggle have driven Vox Populi to fight the powers-that-be solely out of blind hatred, resulting in more violent and brutal methods and leading to subfactions in the group. The player in Infinite controls Booker DeWitt, a former disgraced member of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency to recover the girl Elizabeth from her captivity aboard Columbia for the last twelve years under Comstock. Booker finds the city in violent political strife and works with Elizabeth to understand why she was held captive and the secrets of Columbia's creation. The story is thematically linked to the previous BioShock games, and a scene within the game revisits the underwater city of Rapture through this connection. The player augments weapons and abilities with Elizabeth's own to aid their escape from the falling city. BioShock Infinite was announced, on August 12, 2010, for release on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 systems on February 26, 2013; on December 7, 2012, Irrational Games announced that release would be delayed by another month, to March 26, 2013. Previously known as "Project Icarus", BioShock Infinite is not a direct sequel or prequel to the original game, but carries many of the same gameplay concepts from the BioShock title. A DLC expansion for the game, called Burial at Sea, focuses on the thematic connections between the settings of Columbia and Rapture, and follows Booker and Elizabeth investigating a case in the underwater city a year before the events that incited the fall of Rapture witnessed in the first BioShock game, reintroducing many of the characters from that original setting. Burial at Sea was released in two-parts on November 12, 2013 and March 25, 2014. ''BioShock Parkside'' In February 2014, while promoting Burial at Sea: Episode Two, series director Ken Levine revealed that BioShock Infinite would be Irrational Games' last game in the BioShock series. Levine let go of most of the staff of Irrational Games in February 2017 and rebranded the division as Ghost Story Games within 2K Games to work on smaller narrative titles. The rights to BioShock remained with 2K. That same month of promoting Burial at Sea: Episode Two, 2K Games stated that the BioShock series will continue, telling Game Informer they "look forward to exploring the next BioShock". In May 2014, 2K Games stated that work on the BioShock series is continuing with 2K Marin at the helm. In a 2016 interview, Levine explained that the pressure and stress of managing a large team as he had to for Infinite had impacted his health and personal relationships, and rather than stay on to build a larger game, decided to leave the BioShock franchise. In an April 2018 Kotaku feature on the state of Hangar 13, another development studio within 2K Games which had undergone significant restructuring after the release of Mafia III, several employees stated that Hangar 13 developers had joined a new studio in the Bay Area and were working on a project known under the working title Parkside, which the employees stated was the next game in the BioShock franchise. Themes BioShock and its statue of Atlas in New York City was the principal idea that led to the art deco stylings of BioShock.]] The thematic core of BioShock was born when Levine was walking at Rockefeller Center near the GE Building in New York City. He saw the uniqueness of the art deco styling of the building along with imagery around the building such as the statue of Atlas near it, and recognized that these were spaces that had not been experienced in the first-player shooter genre. The history of the Rockefeller Center also fed into the story concept; Levine noted how the Center had started construction prior to the Great Depression of the 1920s; when the primary financiers had pulled out, John D. Rockefeller backed the remaining construction to complete the project himself, as stated by Edge magazine "a great man building an architectural triumph against all the odds". The history of Rapture and the character of Andrew Ryan is loosely based on Rockefeller's story. He also considered that many of the characters of Rapture were all people who were oppressed once before in the lives and now free of that oppression, have turned around and become the oppressors, a fact he felt resonated throughout human history. The team wanted to have the player care for the drones in some way and create pathos for these characters. The idea of using little girls came out of brainstorming, but was controversial and shocking within the team at first, recognizing that they could easily be killed and make the game more horrific in the style of Night Trap. However, as Levine worked on the story, he started to incorporate the ideas of dystopian and utopian thinkers from the twentieth century, including Ayn Rand, Aldous Huxley, and George Orwell, and considered their ideas "fascinating". He brought in the ideas of Objectivism that Rand primarily outlined in the book Atlas Shrugged, that man should be driven by selfishness and not altruism, and used this to inform the philosophy behind the city of Rapture and Andrew Ryan's work, tied in with his previous observations on Rockefeller and his writings. This was extended to the use of the little girls as drones (now Little Sisters), particularly the question whether the player should try to save the girls or harvest the ADAM for their own benefit. 2K Games expressed concern about the initial mechanic of the Little Sisters, where the player would actively prey on the Little Sister, which would have alerted a Big Daddy and setting up the fight with the player. This approach did not sit well with Levine, and 2K Games asserted that they would not ship a game "where the player gets punished for doing the right thing". They altered this approach where the Little Sisters would be invulnerable until the player had dealt with their Big Daddy, though LeBreton considered this "a massive kludge" into the game's fiction. The idea of creating the Little Sisters and presenting the player with this choice became a critical part of the game's appeal to the larger gaming market though would still be met with criticism from some outlets. Levine desired only to have one ending to the game, something that would have left the fate of the characters "much more ambiguous", but publisher pressure directed them to craft multiple endings depending on the choice of harvesting Little Sisters. Levine also noted that "it was never my intention to do two endings for the game. It sort of came very late and it was something that was requested by somebody up the food chain from me." Other elements came into the story design. Levine had an interest in "stem cell research and the moral issues that go around it". In regard to artistic influences, Levine cited the books ''Nineteen Eighty-Four and Logan's Run, representing societies that have "really interesting ideas screwed up by the fact that we're people". The idea of the mind control used on Jack was offered by LeBreton, inspired by films like The Manchurian Candidate, as a means to provide a better reason to limit the player's actions as opposed to the traditional use of locked doors to prevent them exploring areas they should not. The team had agreed that Jack's actions would be controlled by a key phrase but struggled with coming up with one that would not reveal Atlas' true nature. Levine happened upon "Would you kindly" after working on marketing materials for the game that asked the reader hypothetical questions such as "Would you kill people, even innocent people, to survive?", later working that phrase into the first script for the game. BioShock 2 .]] In 2013, Liz Lanier of Game Informer included Lamb among top ten female villains in video games, stating that "an extremist obsessed with the "greater good," Lamb will sacrifice anything and anyone for her own agenda; whether that means brainwashing or murdering to create her utopia, she's down." In contrast to the first BioShock s focus on objectivism, libertarianism, and philosophies derived from or related to Ayn Rand, BioShock 2 focuses on versions of utilitarian and collectivist ideals. Lamb's philosophy of altruism is based on historical figures Karl Marx and John Stuart Mill, along with modern figures such as Richard Dawkins. In comparison to BioShock s questions of free will and humans' destiny, BioShock 2 s director Jordan Thomas said that the player character is "almost the ultimate individual" whom Lamb goads to fulfill her goals. BioShock 2 also deals with cult of personalities, Marxism, abandonment, technocracy, moral absolutism, altruism, fatherhood, class war, equalitarianism, capitalism, utopianism, being, childhood, socialism, selfishness, adolescence, poverty, liberalism, moral relativism, rationalism, empiricism, Christianity, Social Darwinism, subversion of being, transformation, genetic determinism, and the benefits of family and religion. Professor Ryan Lizardi draws parallels between BioShock 2 s themes of community versus the individual and the issues of McCarthyism and the hippie movement that occurred around the time period of the game's setting. "As this sequel is an extension of the first game's storylines and characters, there are direct contrasts between the extreme politics of Andrew Ryan's objectivism and the extreme religion/politics of Lamb's collectivism," he writes. "Bioshock 2 specifically asks players to question all sides of debates when extreme stances are taken, and asks players to weigh their decisions in an alternate and complex history. " Lizardi also noted BioShock 2 s multiplayer option, "which in games often represents the least narratively challenging moments, but which in this game is used as a place to hammer home a connection to the first game's politically extreme spectrum." BioShock Infinite Ken Levine, the creative lead of the game, stated that players are supposed to draw their own conclusions from the game, and ultimately decide "what is good and bad." He explained that "there are many parts of Infinite that are open to interpretation, and the purpose is that you draw your own theories from them." To this end, Levine avoided providing an authoritative final answer regarding the game's ending, replying "What actually matters is what people think. Why does my interpretation matter more than yours?" Acknowledging that Infinite s themes left fans debating and frustrated, Levine was nevertheless satisfied by the game's opacity, stating that it was his intent, and compared the game's interpretation of quantum mechanics to some of his favorite films; 2001: A Space Odyssey, Fight Club, The Master, Miller's Crossing, and There Will Be Blood. Rob Crossley of CVG stated that "To Levine, the game's Many Worlds Theory is a storytelling device; one that gives his narrative something unique in games yet celebrated in film: interpretability. Levine claimed that the core messages in Infinite were neither personal nor political, insisting instead that they were historical. In response to people discussing Columbia "as a particularly racist society," he said that the game was making no particular point about the theme of racism and that the game's depiction of it was merely "more a factor of the time." The racism portrayed in Columbia was seen by Levine "more as a reflection of what race relations in the U.S. were like in 1912;" Levine explained that the game was "less about exploring the good and bad sides of racism and more just a reflection of the time and how it impacted that era." He noted that several historic American figures such as the Founding Fathers, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt were "men of their times," great men who were nevertheless held racist beliefs because of the culture in which they were brought up. Consequently, Levine reasoned that the depictions of white supremacy and white nationalism were warranted in the game, saying that to not do so would be "dishonest" and "strange" to the time period. Many reviewers praised the game for its treatment of race. In addition to racism, the game was interpreted as tackling political and social problems, as well as exploring several themes such as constants and variables, American exceptionalism, extremism, religious fundamentalism, ethnic nationalism, fanaticism, cultism, authoritarian populism, religion, dichotomy, sameness, multiple realities, fatalism, choice, consequences, free will, hope, self-loathing, denial, rebirth, and redemption. The game's theme of "constants and variables" received attention, primarily drawn towards the characters of Robert and Rosalind Lutece, who are shown to be key figures behind Columbia and the drivers for the game's events. In an early scene, they ask Booker to flip a coin, which has come up heads 122 times out of 122 flips evidenced by tally marks on both sides of the sandwich board worn by Robert) indicating that the Luteces have recruited a different Booker from a similar number of alternate realities, in order to accomplish their aims. The coin-flip is a "constant" present in every universe and is thus destined to always have the same result. This scene has been compared to works like The Garden of Forking Paths and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, which have similar themes about the subject of choice versus fate. Fandom cosplaying as Elizabeth at WonderCon 2013.]] The series has a large fanbase. Fans of BioShock have made notable artwork, books, and fan fiction about the series. It also enjoys significant popularity among cosplayers, primarily due to the series unique characters and setting. Recreations, spin-offs, or fan-made sequels of the game In 2014, a fan of the series created portions of the original BioShock in Unreal Engine 4. In 2016, a YouTube account titled rosslittlejohn recreated the original game's Medical Pavilion level with the same engine. Books In 2018, fans of the series released BioShock: From Rapture to Columbia, a detailed book related to "the development of the games and their stories, citing influences from real world history and mythology and recounting bits of the story in a detailed synopsis." Reception and legacy (PC) 96 (PS3) 94 |game2 = BioShock 2 |mc2 = (X360) 88 (PC) 88 (PS3) 88 |game3 = BioShock Infinite |mc3 = (PS3) 94 (PC) 94 (X360) 93 }} The series has received critical acclaim for its morality-based storyline, immersive environments, and unique settings. It is commonly listed among both audiences and critics as one of the greatest video game series of all time and a demonstration of video game as an art form. The original's plot twist, where the player discovers that the player-character Jack has been coerced into events by the trigger phrase, "Would you kindly...", is considered one of the strongest narrative elements of recent games, in part that it subverted the expectation that the player has control and influence on the game. In February 2011 the Smithsonian Institution announced it would be holding an exhibit dedicated to the art of video games. Several games were chosen initially and the public could vote for which games they felt deserved to be displayed via a poll on the exhibit's website. BioShock was considered a front runner to be displayed because of its status as a game that demonstrated how artistic the medium can be. John Lanchester of the London Review of Books recognized BioShock as one of the first video games to break into coverage of mainstream media to be covered as a work of art arising from its narrative aspects, whereas before video games had failed to enter into the "cultural discourse", or otherwise covered due to moral controversies they created. Peter Suderman for Vox in 2016 wrote that BioShock was the first game that demonstrated that video games could be a work of art, particularly highlighting that the game plays on the theme of giving the illusion of individual control. Novels ''Rapture'' BioShock: Rapture is a novel written by John Shirley, covering the founding of Rapture, and life in Rapture before the events of BioShock. It was published by Titan books on July 19, 2011. ''Mind In Revolt'' BioShock Infinite: Mind In Revolt is a novella written by Joe Fielder and Ken Levine, offering insight to the world of Columbia and the motivations of Daisy Fitzroy, the leader of the Vox Populi. Mind In Revolt had an eBook release on February 13, 2013, with the hardcover version released later through the Irrational Games store. Other media Art books BioShock: Breaking the Mold, a book containing artwork from the game, was released by 2K Games on August 13, 2007. It is available in both low and high resolution, in PDF format from 2K Games's official website. Until October 1, 2007, 2K Games was sending a printed version of the book to the owners of the collector's edition whose Big Daddy figurines had been broken, as compensation for the time it took to replace them. On October 31, 2008, the winners of "Breaking the Mold: Developers Edition Artbook Cover Contest" were announced on cultofrapture.com. Deco Devolution: The Art of BioShock 2 was released in 2010. The Art of BioShock Infinite was released in 2013. BioShock: Industrial Revolution Pre-orders of BioShock Infinite granted the purchaser with an access code to a browser-based puzzle game, BioShock Infinite: Industrial Revolution, developed in conjunction with Lazy 8 Studios. Irrational had concerns developing a pre-release puzzle game to tie into the retail title. Several of the Irrational team had played and enjoyed Lazy 8's steampunk-like Independent Games Festival-winning title, Cogs, and considered using them to build this pre-release game. Irrational believed the studio would be able to develop a game that would provide "challenging puzzles in a steampunk style", according to Lazy 8's founder, Rob Jagnow. The game's mechanics are a simplified version of the Cogs puzzles, and involve creating devices from basic machines like gears and pulleys to achieve a specific action; the game contains 59 such puzzles culled from more than 70. Lazy 8 focused on the gear puzzles as they were a fan-favorite from Cogs. Jagnow found through happenstance that the game's mechanics led to a "dual-space system" that may be challenging to the player. The game places the player as a mechanic aboard Columbia, who can align with either the Founders or the Vox Populi; decisions during the game's story on which side to support are permanent, even if the player attempts an earlier puzzle. Jagnow, who worked on the story under Irrational's guidance, wanted to have the player "constantly second-guess their decisions" on which side to support. Solving the steampunk-based puzzles grants the player unlockable items within the main BioShock Infinite game once it is released. Soundtrack 2K Games released an orchestral score soundtrack on their official homepage on August 24, 2007. Available in MP3 format, the score—composed by Garry Schyman—contains 12 of the 22 tracks from the game. The Limited Edition version of the game came with The Rapture EP remixes by Moby and Oscar The Punk. The three remixed tracks on the CD include "Beyond the Sea", "God Bless the Child" and "Wild Little Sisters"; the original recordings of these songs are in the game. In BioShock, the player encounters phonographs that play music from the 1940s and 1950s as background music. In total, 30 licensed songs can be heard throughout the game. BioShock s soundtrack was released on a vinyl LP with the BioShock 2 Special Edition. Collections ''BioShock: Ultimate Rapture Edition'' BioShock: Ultimate Rapture Edition is a retail package containing BioShock and BioShock 2, along with all downloadable content for both games including Minerva's Den, and a set of stickers based on BioShock Infinite. The edition was released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America on January 14, 2013, Future release dates planned for other regions. ''BioShock Infinite: The Complete Edition'' BioShock Infinite: The Complete Edition is a retail package containing BioShock Infinite and Burial at Sea. It also includes the Clash In the Clouds arena mode, as well as all pre-order bonuses and exclusive weapons. BioShock Infinite: The Complete Edition was released on November 4, 2014. ''BioShock: The Collection'' BioShock: The Collection is a remastered collection of the BioShock series, containing BioShock, BioShock 2, BioShock Infinite, and all of their single-player downloadable content including Minerva's Den and Burial at Sea. It features updated graphics and a documentary with commentary from Ken Levine and Shawn Robertson. The multiplayer component of BioShock 2 is not included in the collection. It was released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows in September 2016. BioShock Infinite's original PC version was ported to console for the collection, but was not remastered since it "already meets current-gen console standards and runs smoothly on high visual settings", according to 2K Games. Players that own either of the first two games on Windows will be able to update to the remastered versions for free. Cancelled projects Film adaptation Industry rumors after BioShock s release suggested a film adaptation of the game would be made, utilizing similar green screen filming techniques as in the film 300 to recreate the environments of Rapture. On May 9, 2008, Take-Two announced a deal with Universal Studios to produce a BioShock film, to be directed by Gore Verbinski and written by John Logan. The film was expected to be released in 2010, but was put on hold due to budget concerns. On August 24, 2009 it was revealed that Verbinski had dropped out of the project due to the studio's decision to film overseas to keep the budget under control. Verbinski reportedly feels this would have hindered his work on Rango. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo was in talks to direct with Verbinski as producer. In January 2010 the project was in pre-production stage, with director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and Braden Lynch, a voice artist from BioShock 2, working on the film. By July the film was facing budget issues but producer Gore Verbinski said they were working it out. He also said the film would be a "hard R", restricted for people younger than 17 without adult accompaniment. Ken Levine, during an interview on August 30, 2010, said: "I will say that it is still an active thing and it's something we are actively talking about and actively working on." Verbinski later cited that by trying to maintain the "restricted" rating, they were unable to find any studios that would back the effort, putting the film's future in jeopardy. Levine confirmed in March 2013 that the film had been cancelled. Levine stated that after Warner's Watchmen film in 2009 did not do as well as the studio expected, they had concerns with the $200 million budget that Verbinski had for the BioShock film. They asked him to consider doing the film on a smaller $80 million budget, but Verbinski did not want to accept this. Universal subsequently brought a new director in to work with the smaller budget but with whom Levine and 2K Games did not feel was a good fit to the material. Universal gave Levine the decision to end the project, which he took, believing that the film would not work with the current set of compromises they would have had to make. According to Kotaku, Sony Pictures has registered the domain name for the film in April 2014. ''BioShock Vita'' A version of BioShock for the PlayStation Vita, tentatively known as BioShock Vita, was announced at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo by Levine during Sony's press event, alongside the introduction of the Vita, with few details were revealed at that time. Levine later described the title as still in the works, a game that would neither be similar to the first two BioShock titles nor be a version of Infinite for the Vita. He stated that "I'd rather do something that's an experiment and that's a little different. And is unique for the franchise." By April 2012, with Irrational working heavily to finish Infinite, Levine had put the Vita game on hold. In interviews in December 2012, Levine revealed that little work had been done on the game, as the dealing with working with Sony was in the hands of Irrational's publisher, Take-Two Interactive, though he was still interested in the title. Levine revealed in July 2014 that the deals between Sony and Take-Two had failed to materialize, and the game was unlikely to be made, despite Sony being bullish on promoting the future title at its Vita reveal before any development work had been started. He further clarified that his idea would have been a strategy-style game similar to Final Fantasy Tactics, with the game set prior to the fall of Rapture. See Also * * Close to the Sun - a video game with a similar premise to BioShock References Sources * Further reading *''BioShock: Rapture'', by John Shirley (2011) External links * Category:2K Games franchises Category:Alternate history video games Category:BioShock Category:Video games about genetic engineering Category:Dystopian video games Category:First-person shooters Category:Retrofuturistic video games Category:Take-Two Interactive franchises Category:Video game franchises Category:Video game franchises introduced in 2007